Csaba Kőrösi, President of the 77th session of the General Assembly
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High-Level Political Forum Session on “SDG6 and interlinkages with other SDGs – Clean Water and Sanitation”
(As delivered)
Excellencies, dear Colleagues,
Thank you much, Madame President.
And many, many thanks to all the speakers, excellent ideas on the table.
And I hear you that we must make a quantum leap.
But how to do it?
We heard excellent examples, excellent suggestions – be them policy changes, changes in financing, changes in pragmatic solutions.
That was also the mission of the March Water Conference.
And Member States – you, together with stakeholders and scientists – did a very good job.
We understood in March, and most of us recognize, that the water cycle is part of the global common good.
And there is a necessity to adopt our policies, legislation and financing accordingly.
Second, I think we know that we will not fulfill our promise on sustainability, economic and social stability and global well-being by simply accelerating conventional methods.
If we do it faster, we get the same objective – crisis, if you wish – faster.
We should shift gears.
We should change speed.
But we also need to change the game.
As we hear from speakers today and at the Conference in March, scientific evidence is crucial for creating innovative solutions and inclusive partnerships.
Likewise, the time is ripe to establish scientific validation for water development. And I am very happy to hear SIWI [Stockholm International Water Institute] volunteering to start this job.
Thank you very much, indeed, on behalf of the Member States.
We also need a dedicated policy development platform for water at the UN to help spark the determined action we need to realize SDG6.
You may also recall the game-changing commitments were needed and were highlighted by the Secretary-General at the end of the Conference.
And there was a reference to his game-changers in the summary prepared by my Office.
Let me recall some of them. We are happy to have many, many game-changing ideas. But let me recall some of them.
– Reinforcing water’s place as a fundamental human right; sometimes we forget about it.
– Development of an integrated water and climate policy at national and global levels by 2030.
– Creation of a global water information system to support water, climate and land management.
– Creation of the early warnings for all by 2025.
– Developing ways to overcome the deadly dependence on ever-rising water consumption for providing nutrition and power.
– Developing the new economics of water – and I was so happy to hear from Maria Espinosa that we are going see the next iteration of the fantastic report. That is a real game-changer in our minds. Thank you much indeed to you and the Commission.
– We need to establish the global water education network, to build capacity, institutions and people, especially to support developing countries.
– And we need inclusive, comprehensive transboundary agreements, on the basis of the UN Water Convention, to support countries in all regions.
– We need to reform the institutional architecture. We need a board of UN agencies, a UN Water Envoy to lead it, supported by reformed UN Water and a scientific practice panel.
– And, last but not least, we are going to convene the intergovernmental meeting in 2025 to evaluate the implementation of the undertakings – what we are discussing right now.
All these game-changers came from the discussions at the interactive dialogues.
Some of them were also recommended by the science committee in October, during the preparatory General Assembly meeting and reconfirmed by the March Conference.
Some others were already part of the voluntary commitments made by Member States.
We all agree that global water issues must be resolved without further procrastination.
It has been three months and 17 days since the Water Conference – an event hailed by many as historic.
As we hear today, at the Water Conference, world leaders vowed to move towards an inspiring, cooperative, transboundary and transformative Water Action Agenda.
We’ve heard that 300 billion dollars have been committed to the implementation –and having the potential of unlocking at least 1 trillion dollars.
We know what to do. We know how to do.
What is missing now is the real action. The first very important steps.
I commend the Netherlands, Tajikistan and Senegal for leading the efforts on the UN resolution to follow up on the Water Conference outcomes.
But it is also time to ask ourselves:
– What have we done, collectively, to deliver on the world’s expectations?
– As we review our progress, can we honestly say we are starting to be better off?
– Do we have the steps in place that will take us, collectively, to a water secure world?
– What would be the benefit of further postponing serious discussions on how the commitments and solutions could be implemented?
I leave you with these questions, with all my concerns and all my hopes.
The crisis has started.
The needs are there.
Solutions have been identified.
If some of them may not match all current interests, would it be wise to block everything?
Or is it better to make progress where there is common interest and common benefit?
Member States have a large, shared wisdom and I trust in that wisdom.
I thank you.
